Student president promotes recycling

Tuesday

Aug 26, 2008 at 8:32 PMAug 26, 2008 at 8:33 PM

By BRIDGET ROBINSONCampus correspondent

Might recycling ever be a way of life for college students? Many at the University of Florida hope so.Kevin Reilly, UF’s current student body president, said his party’s slogan “Tomorrow Starts Today” was really meant to promote recycling and students engaging in sustainable lifestyle habits.“A sustainable lifestyle is definitely the way of the future so it’s something that we believed in, wanted to adopt and tackle head on,” Reilly said.During the Student Government elections last spring, the Gator Party included several sustainability initiatives.These included proposals to convert RTS buses to biodiesel engines and to provide parking decal discounts to students who own hybrid vehicles.According to the Physical Plant Division’s Web site, UF’s recycling program has recovered and recycled over 200 million pounds of paper, cans, glass, plastic, scrap metal, concrete and other materials generated through UF in the past 15 years.Reilly said that although UF has taken giant leaps over the years with its recycling program, it still has been difficult to get students to actively do their part.Reilly said he believes students are taking steps toward improving their recycling habits, but they aren’t nearly where they should be. “A couple of years ago it was really hard to find recycling bins anywhere on campus,” he said, “but now they’re all over the place, so I really do think the school is moving in the right direction.”Despite the school’s efforts, it still seems students are under-motivated when it comes to recycling.Reilly said it’s going to take a campuswide culture change to affect students’ willingness to recycle. He also said student recycling habits will probably improve in the future as the campus adds recycling facilities and strengthens the recycling culture on campus. Melisa Bromfield, a second-year finance major at UF, said she doesn’t really recycle much because it hasn’t been something she thinks about.“I guess it’s not that important to me right now,” she said. “I just don’t feel like I have the time to commit to it.”Many students are so bogged down with other responsibilities that they often don’t take the time out to learn about what they can do to aid the recycling process.“I think it all comes down to education. Students need to know why it is important and why it should matter to them,” Reilly said. “It should also be made very available to them because a person typically isn’t going to go out of their way to recycle.”